Frederick Mouillot
Frederick Mouillot was a British born actor manager.
Born in Suffolk Street, Dublin on 31st May 1864 to a family which had a French aristocratic pedigree, he began his career working for touring stock companies. His first professional appearance was at the Princess’s Theatre, Glasgow as a utility player and by 1883 he was appearing in name roles, e.g. in Lady Grey at the New Royal Theatre in Bristol.
In 1885, at the age of twenty-one, he formed a theatrical company with Mr. H.H. Morell and purchased the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth, which had opened in 1882. Continuing to act, he now became a manager as well and during the 1890s the Morell and Mouillot business expanded dramatically.
expanding. By 27th July 1897, when they opened the Queen’s Opera House at Crouch End, north London [later the Crouch End Hippodrome; destroyed by bombing during World War II] with the popular ‘Japanese operetta’ The Geisha, they owned another 17 theatres, including the Grand Theatre, Swansea. On 13th December 1897 the Theatre Royal, Dublin, designed by the famous theatre architect Frank Matcham, was opened by Mr. Morell and “the actor-manager Mr. Frederick Mouillot with the assistance of a group of Dublin businessmen”.
Also in 1897 an original musical The Little Duchess, of which Frederick was part author, opened and, the following year, the partners toured the musical comedy The Transit of Venus. Also in 1898 the Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, west London [now a cinema], was opened, with a production of The Geisha. In 1900 Morell & Mouillot took over The Grand Pavilion, Boscombe, with Frederick being described in the local press as “An impresario, who brought in star performers such as Sarah Bernhardt and Sir Henry Irving and updated the theatre to seat two thousand.” (The partners disposed of this theatre in 1908. The building survives, as a nightclub.) By 1904, they were managing Terry’s Theatre on the Strand, central London [demolished in 1923] and by 1908 they owned and managed the Hippodrome Theatre, Colchester [now a nightclub]. Part of their success was attributed to them touring the same acts around their many theatres. The performers were offered a smaller wage than they would have earned for appearing at just one theatre, but they had guaranteed work for months at a time. By 1906 Frederick was reported, in the Green Room Book, to be the proprietor or managing director of numerous theatres and music halls including the Theatre Royal, Dublin [demolished]; Grand Opera House, Belfast; Theatre Royal, Belfast [demolished]; Opera House, Cork [destroyed by fire in 1955; present Opera House built in 1963]; Theatre Royal, Jersey [now Jersey Opera House]; Broadway Theatre, New Cross, London SE [demolished]; Theatre Royal, Bournemouth; Hippodrome, Boscombe [now a nightclub]; Grand Theatre, Southampton [demolished]; Hippodrome, Southampton [destroyed by bombing during WWII]; Grand Theatre, Swansea; Hippodrome, Margate [demolished]; Opera House, Tunbridge Wells [public house]; Queens Theatre, Leeds [demolished] and Metropole Theatre, Glasgow [demolished]. Frederick was also involved in businesses in Australia and South America, and also South Africa, where he was one of the original directors of The Electric Theatres, which had at least five cinema/theatres in Cape Town and a cinema in Durban for the black population, and a large number of touring companies. He was part author, with Edward Abbott Parry, playwright, author and senior barrister, of What The Butler Saw and What’s the Matter with London? The former, Parry’s most successful play, was first performed in 1905. Another, The Captain of the School was performed in London and Manchester in 1910 with Parry’s younger daughter, Dorothy, playing the role of the heroine Rhoda McIntyre. Gertrude also appeared in this play. After Frederick died in 1911 Parry had ideas for further plays, but had not the heart to continue with them after the death of his friend and he became a judge at Lambeth County Court. Frederick’s hobbies were listed in the Green Room Book as “theatres, music halls and taking long voyages” (not too surprising, given his far-flung business interests!). His address was given as 1 and 2 King Street, Covent Garden (his offices) and his clubs were said to be the Green Room (London), Vernon (Belfast) and Ormonde (Dublin).
